This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired
magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before
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In New Orleans, a collective of Vietnamese fishermen left
jobless after the 2010 BP oil spill has found a new enterprise:
growing upmarket produce in water laced with fish crud.

The Village de l'Est Green Growers Initiative -- Veggi -- uses
aquaponics (that's aquaculture + hydroponics), adding bacteria to
basins full of water and fish such as minnows and koi to convert
the ammonia in the piscine poop to nitrates. Seedlings, their roots
bathed in this nourishing brew, grow big and strong. The system
leverages the fishermen's know-how and yields larger, healthier
crops with less land and water than traditional methods.

So far Veggi has sold
4,500 kilograms of produce, and the harvest usually heads to
high-end eateries, such as US TV chef Emeril Lagrasse's restaurant,
Emeril's. It's hyperlocal, hyperefficient and hyperhelpful.